Pet blog

This is Reese late last night on the floor of the 24 hour emergency vet clinic in Santa Cruz.

Reese became suddenly and profoundly ill yesterday and Sara called the vet yesterday morning. A full panel of diagnostic tests told us she was suffering major organ failure and there wasn't much we could do. We made the decision to euthanize Reese. The entire family said our goodbyes to our pet last night. The whole family was bawling. She was gone about 30 minutes after I snapped this photo.

Reese -- a chow/German shepherd mix -- is easily the best dog we've ever had. She was amazingly intelligent, very kind and gentle, (mostly) obedient, playful and just a wonderful dog. We all loved her. She was only about four years old when she passed.

Please excuse this weepy self indulgence, though to keep things in perspective there's also this. This will likely be my only post today. You can see more photos of Reese in my Flickr photo stream.

Posting about the loss of your dog is never "weepy self indulgence." Pets hold such a special place in the lives of their companions that there is no better way to grieve than to share. A lot of us have lost a buddy and we know it hurts.

I can understand how you must be feeling, since I lost Dipsy a while back too to organ failure. Its hard to put them down, but its selfish to keep them alive, when nothing else is possible. I still feel bad sometimes.

Fritz: My condolences. I lost my own dog Muki Jacques just over a year ago--after 13+ incredible years, that dog lived for adventure: beach, woods, parks--and still grieve and miss him terribly. I'm sorry for your loss and wish you the best. Paul

My condolences to you and your family, Fritz. Around 5 years ago, we had to put our nearly 20-year-old cat to sleep after he got progressively more sick over the last two years of his life. Even though we knew it was going to happen some day, we were all crushed when his time finally came.